Despite having carried out the
ignominious withdrawal of Mexican forces from Texas,
Filisola vindicated his actions in his own memoirs of the
Texas campaign. General Filisola later commanded a
division during the Mexican War.

In the flurry of
recriminations and self-justifications following the
Mexican military disaster in Texas, the finger of blame
pointed mostly at generals Santa Anna and Filisola. This
writer (possibly Peña himself) refutes Filisola's
memoirs point by point in defense of General Urrea.

General Urrea . . . gained
the esteem of the majority of the army but at the same
time revived the jealousies of [Santa Anna] and the other
generals: Urrea does everything, they would
cry out, he alone has the glory, while we just sit
watching his victories.

General Urrea was the most vocal opponent of
the withdrawal of Mexican troops from Texas following
Santa Anna's capture. Urrea published his account of the
Texas campaign in 1838, "with some observations to
vindicate himself before his fellow citizens."

Never has General Santa Anna
performed a more contemptible deed among the many that he
has committed during his political career than in selling
out his country by relinquishing Texas' delightful
territory. . . .

Two treaties were
signed by Texas President David G. Burnet and General
Santa Anna on May 14, 1836, following the Mexican army's
defeat at San Jacinto. The "secret" version
promised Santa Anna's immediate freedom with certain
qualifications. Neither the public nor the secret treaty
was ever honored by Texas or Mexico.

Santa Anna was the central figure in the
history of the early Mexican Republic. Vain and powerful,
the self-styled "Napoleon of the West" became
an object of both hatred and fascination in the United
States.

General Santa Anna . . .
displayed the most unfortunate ideas regarding Texas,
expressing in the strongest way his opinion that it
should be razed to the ground, so that this immense
desert, he said, might serve as a wall between Mexico and
the United States.

Santa Anna was alternately hero
and villain throughout his career. In 1836 he was the
villain who lost Texas; in 1848 he was the heroic
commander who defended Mexican soil, only to give up a
major portion of national territory in the peace treaty.
In this publication, Santa Anna gives his own perspective
on Mexico's two great wars with Texas and the United
States.